Christmas Special (BIG FAT SPOILERS)

[lynda]

I noticed The Next Doctor had another thread, but it was a speculation thread, and I wanted one for people that had already seen the episode. If you haven't, please leave now because I don't want to spoil you. Anyways:

That was pretty awesome, I thought. I was fooled for a bit into thinking that David Morissey really IS the next Doctor. And that fobwatch bit was pretty awesome. All that tension and dramatic music and stuff, and it turns out to be nothing. Made me laugh. His TARDIS balloon was pretty neato too.

The thing that was the coolest, though, was when they opened up that cyber information stick thing and it had clips of all 10 of the Doctors. Who would have known that it was that easy to turn me into a pile of blathering goo on the floor?

Oh, also, did you see the way David Tennant was trying hard not to laugh when he was introduced to Rosita? Kind of a funny coincidence. someone with a voice so much like Martha's that I thought it was her sometimes, and almost named Rose.

[merrythemad]

right well spoilerificness awaits those who highlight the white

*you know, I must admit I kinda wonder if he still is the next Doctor, you know how they like to give you the answer n then throw you off course (how many thought the Master was kidnapping The Doctor, Donna and Martha at the end of "Poison Sky" because of the hand being all bubbly?). His reaction to being inside the TARDIS makes me wonder. I mean it would be pretty darned tricky of them, but are they that clever? Sometimes those writers absolutely are, other times it's "Fear Her" or "Love and Monsters" no offense if some of you adore those episodes). Yes, I know he had a son, but who is to say he didn't just use a different name and fall in love and have it work a bit, would be just his luck, you know. And the boy was still small and he likes to be young so he could have regenerated and then lfobwatched and lived tenish years as a human. Especially as the whole scrambling of the cybermen's circuits made no sense.

I was enthralled at first, then kinda disappointed, to be honest. I suppose that's mostly because of how large it had become in my head, lol. I'm sad they have Ten near-suicidal now, I was so hoping for him to find some closure before becoming (eleven? eleven and a half? twelve? thirteen? as you can count him to twelve if you count him as eleven and "Hand-Doc" as twelve).

I loved the beginning, the two crazy Doctors chasing after baddies and laughing like loons, that was great then it kinda dragged for me. I mean I loved Miss Hartigan as a villianess (though I do get tired of strong powerful women supporting cybermen) and if the Doctor severed her connection to the cybermen how did she fry them? I don't know, I'm sorry I hate to be Negative Nessie, like I said it probably was just me and how large it was in my mind. I mean I had the time and the ability and it was my first ever christmas viewing of a christmas episode, I had it all built as mommy's present to herself, nog and rum and scones and all, even had a few of whovian friends over, that being said, It wasn't a bad episode, not at all, just a bit sketchy detail-wise and maybe not as good the other christmas specials, I've not decided as yet. *

wow bit longer than I had thought, lol.

[angeleyes87]

**Sigh* Alright, I'm just going to say it. I'm not a fan of this episode. I mean it was decent enough, and yes there is surely something profound about it, and I can't quite put my finger on it, but I really just didn't like it. I don't know if it was Morrissy and that I really just couldn't stand him or what. A few plot issues to stamp out as Merry has said, the cyberlink and all. And the sonic screwdriver. At the beginning the MDoc asks for it from Rosita but then 10Doc asks about it later and it's a regular screwdriver. Hmm. Perplexing I think. A rating for me 6/10 maybe a 7/10. I really think it could have been better. And I am so sad to say that.*

[clocketpatch]

* it all fell apart in the last 20 minutes or so, and became 'nonesense' as Jackson put it. All that needless dragging angst... ARGH! though I've come to expect this end of falling apart ending whenever RTD does finales or specials so... meh. it wasn't as painful to it through as the last twenty minutes of JE (appologies to anyone who likes those minutes), though I did sort of maybe kinda hit mute when Jackson started on expounding about ho wonderful the Doctor is for the uptenth time.

Hmmm, all of that sounds rather negative, but you know, I liked it actually. Quite a bit really. The first forty minute or so was fantastic, and the let down at the end wasn't too bad, and THERE WAS THAT FLASHBACK! which caught me totally and utterly off guard and reduced me to a pile of squee.

Also, the fobwatch, it really had me going and then - and the 'TARDIS'... win. And David Morrisley (who's name I hoped I'm spelling right) occilated between very good and nigh on unwatchable but he was very good for the most of it. Especially at the beginning. More than a few times I wanted to give him a hug.

my favourite thing though is probably the Cybershades. They're the naftest villain I've ever seen. I swear I glimpsed their sneakers a few times under the furry cloaks, but weren't they just adorable?

AND did anyone else notice Tennant's lapsing accent towards the end? He went full out Scottish for a moment there in the balloon.

oh, and, to end off,... 'The Planet of the Dead' sounds charming and cozy doesn't it? I just can't *wait* to visit! (and Doctor Who will return in... very James Bondish eh? lol)*

right, and that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. *nods*

[merrythemad]

* You know, Angel, you are correct, he DID have a sonic screwdriver at the beginning of the episode and then lose it suddenly for the rest, I am going with he IS the Doctor, fobwatched. Yes indeedly do.*

[jjpor]

So, as has become the drill, please only highlight the whited-out stuff below if you laugh at spoilers the way the Doctor laughs at death:

This was something of a curate's egg, as they say; good in parts. It was also, as Clocket says, not at all what I was expecting going in. Some of the things I liked:

The way they built up the fobwatch, very dramatic and then very amusing; in fact, the whole way for the first part of the story, that they really made you think that he was the next Doctor - I was taken in for a minute or two before I started to realise what was really going on

Miss Hartigan was actually a pretty nice baddie to be honest, driven by the generally poor position of women in Victorian society. I liked some of her snide, over-the-heads-of-the-kiddies, risque comments as well.

David Morrissey...well, I'd agree with the comment that he veered from being good to not-so-good, but I think that was because he was at some points playing the character a bit too broad, a bit too comic. At other moments, though, he was heartbreaking, and I loved the Six-style bombastic swagger he had in some of the earlier scenes. I stand by my comments that he'd make a good replacement for Tennant, not that this now seems very likely to happen. And the bit where he tapped the "sonic" screwdriver on the doorframe just made me LOL. And nice to see a "Doctor" with a (slightly toned down) Liverpool (or "Scouse") accent - McGann disguised his much more in the TV movie.

Tennant. Tennant was as solid as ever; the bits I didn't like about the way Ten was portrayed here were the script's fault rather than the actor's.

As Clocket says, the Cybershades were magnificent. So...cheap-looking; the embodiment of oldschool Who. You could easily have seen Seven or Four, for example, tangling with beasties like these.

And...possibly the greatest thing I have ever seen in NuWho ;D...the montage! I was watching this with family and friends and totally embarrassed myself by squeeing all over them, somewhat aided by my customary state of Xmas Day inebriation: "Look! Hartnell! And the Trout! And Tommy B! And Look! LOOK! It's McCoy!!! MCCOY!!!!"

Things I didn't like:

The Cybermen; NuWho Cybermen are just lame, lamer than 70s-80s Cybermen. Sorry.

Well, the plot just fell apart at the end, and as essentially awesome as the idea is of a giant steampunk mecha stomping Victorian London, the whole resolution just didn't make any sense. And Ten trying to be as badass as Seven; "Look what you've made of me!" or whatever. Even uses ruthlessly smiting the baddies as an excuse for self-obsessed angst. Which brings me to:

The angst! "They break my heart..." Oh, get over yourself, Ten! You don't deserve to have Xmas dinner with Jackson and co, you self-pitying git! As I say, the fault of the script rather than the actor, who sells the lame lines for all he's worth, but really, this sort of self-pity and implied resentment of his companions for leaving him is just not worthy of the good Doctor. I'm sorry, but I really didn't like this; all I can hope is that I wasn't supposed to like it, and that RTD is going to address and resolve this character issue in the specials next year. In fact, if he did so, my admiration for him would jump by quite a few levels.

So, yeah, if we can't have Nighy - Morrissey for Eleven!

God, that was long, wasn't it?

[clocketpatch]

*

no one but no one can dispute Eight's place in canon now!

The steampunk cyberman was pretty cool, even if it was completely nonsensical. I don't normally like big CGI villians, but that thing was just fun.

oh Ten, why did you have to ruin it all with angst???

oh, and just wondering, what WAS the explaination for the cyber-attack not getting into the history books?

Anyway, maybe Morrissey will still be the Doctor? he said that there's no one he'd rather take up the role, and it's known that he can control his regenerations to a certain extent... or, at the least, he can randomly turn into Maxil XD
*

[jjpor]

*Yes, obviously Five must have been far more fond of Maxil than he ever gave any indication of during the actual story. It's a bit like Romana and Princess Astra, I suppose - not unprecedented in other words, LOL.*

[clocketpatch]

* aw, let's not kid ourselves: he was just jealous of Colin's chicken! XD*

[Stripes]

I liked the whole thing.
I really really like the villein lady. She rocked and unlike other villeins, she had a purpose. Revenge for all the men who treated her badly due to her gender AND to prove that women CAN BE powerful. She is the only human I know who made the Cybermen scared and cybermen aren't suppose to have emotions. Don't fight it, you know they were a little freaked when she buzzed the brain cyberman.

I liked the images of the past doctors and the fob watch fun.

I did feel bad about the doctor when he said "they break my heart". He had lost some really good friends, by their choice or forced. I would be sad to see them go too.

Ten was just super fun.

I did however figure out who Morrissey character was pretty fast. I also found Morrissey to be more angst-y than Ten. He was cool while he thought he was The Doctor, then he got all ansty when he found out he wasn't.

When he got over the angst and did stuff with the real Doctor. Then he got annoying with the "I LUV YOU DOCTOR!!!"

Oh and I love the cyberpet thing. I want one.

[merrythemad]

* Clocket has her crazy RomanaisDonna theory and I have my crazy David Morrisey IS the next Doctor and RTD is having a big laugh on all of us theory. I promise to only outline the theory once (I was only suspecting it until Angel's post that confirmed it for me) He DID have a real sonic screwdriver in the beginning then he lost it and had no memory of it, I'm betting he was there fobwatched when Ten died and that caused some sort of crisis and basically now his head is mush.

JJ, I like the cybermen, yes, they are corny and the lack that certain classic who charm, but hey, at least they upgrade(lol I mean get 'better' as technology does) though I thought the whole idea of cybermen involved a frightening sort of dystopic equality so the idea of ranks and classes inside the cybermen sort of astounds me.

Clocket, I think too much was never explained as well, but yay for the happy tear-inducing flashback, it's about blessed time if you ask me. I also thought Tennant's accent wavered, I assumed he was going for that certain Billie Piper as Rose at the end of season four 4. You know, the wtf? kind of charm.

Newton, yes!! He did sort of come over all "bromancey" at the end. The Doctor rocks! lol.*

[jjpor]

*LOL - you have completely convinced me, Merry; I can see it now; Ten, unable to bear the sheer weight of self-centred angst that he is carrying these days, decides to fobwatch himself and just...forget it all. Unfortunately the Master sabotaged the TARDIS's chameleon arch during the time he had it in his possession at the end of Season Three, and it not only humanifies the Doctor, but also kills him the process. So, we are left with a new, humanised, and amnesiac Doctor stranded in Victorian London with no way whatsoever of getting back to Doctorliness, and with Ten, the one person who could help him, convinced that he's human really... Er, well, get him out of that one, RTD! I sort of suspect that Romana, when she finally remembers she is not really Donna, will sort it for him with some kind of Cunning Plan, LOL.

Yes, and alternatively, Jackson's sheer, well...hero-love at the end of the episode was kind of cringe-inducing. To be fair, Ten had just helped him get his identity and his son back, so I suppose there's nothing wrong with gratitude... I'll confess that today I did indeed see the first Ten/Jackson slashfic being posted on the Teaspoon. I didn't read it because, well, that's not my bag, man, but it didn't take them long...

And yeah, well, the Cybermen have always been full of inconsistencies like that. Personally, my favourite thing about them is their need to put "Cyber" in front of everything, just like the Adam West version of Batman had to call everything his Batsomethingorother; hence, Cyberbombs, Cyberguns, Cyberleaders, Cyberkitchensink etc.*

[clocketpatch]

* Oi, my theory is not crazy. JJPOR agrees with me at least. *smug*

You do agree right?

anyway, wasn't Jackson's sonic at the beginning actually the cyber infostamp thingy? (is confused) I need to watch this again. Oh well, not waiting for it to load, maybe if it's still up in a few weeks.

*nods*

and...:

"I'll confess that today I did indeed see the first Ten/Jackson slashfic being posted on the Teaspoon."

that fast? really? *astonished* *

[merrythemad]

*Isn't crazy? *whistles* and as much I like JJ I hardly think he's a valid reference ;p As for the sonic at the beginning I've seen it twice and really think it's a sonic. As for my mad theory, just you wait! Last few minutes of the last bank holiday special Ten will be trying to save his future fobwatched incarnation's wife and die, there by doing something unseemly to the pooch, and getting everything all buggered, maybe it'll be a multi-doc episode as the rest of the doctors have to pull him apart, muhahaha I likes my mad theory, and Clocket, I now understand your DonnaisRomana thing. *winks* I am half-kidding just so you all know. Especially, you, Clocket, I tease but I do understand and just because I don't agree doesn't mean I think you're crazy. still, "The Next Doctor" did introduce us to the Next Doctor *nods sagely* that's my story and I'm sticking to it. haha.*

[angeleyes87]

*Cyberkitchensinks? Really? Well thats interesting. LOL

I have watched "The Next Doctor" 7 times and am dang near positive (though not completely because only fools are positive) that it's a sonic screwdriver. And I like Merry's idea. Wouldn't it be interesting for the last of the holiday episodes. I think the Doc should take Rosita out for a ride on the TARDIS, though I suspect Jackson mayhap do that with his. LOL. Still a TARDIS just not the same.

*cringes* Doc/Jackson slashfic? Oi bugger. Yes I am going to steer clear of those. To each their own I suppose but no thanks.*

[jjpor]

*Yeah, the Cyberkitchensink - it's where they wash the Cyberdishes with their Cyberfairyliquid while wearing their Cyberrubbergloves. LOL.

As regards Ten/Jackson slashfic, well, Jackson did seem awfully, well, admiring of the good Doctor didn't he? I can just picture them both waking up on Boxing Day after a heavy night's feasting, and staring at each other across the pillow with a mutual AAAARRGGHHH!!!! Er, well, quickly moving on...

I too am nearly positive that that was a real sonic screwdriver in the little teaser scene, and am therefore kind of afraid to try and see it again in case it isn't, thus ruining the whole theory. The whole DonnaisRomana theory is something I first ran into back in the heady days of late-season Four (seriously, to be alive during that fateful week between the Stolen Earth and Journey's End, LOL!!), when it was seriously proposed as being the big twist at the end of the season. At the time, I was kind of wary of the prospect, as I'll confess to placing Romana on a kind of pedestal in a slightly strange fanboy sort of way, and to me she'll only ever be Lalla Ward and/or Mary Tamm, but the more I think about DonnaisRomana, dammit, the more I want it to be true. If only so we could get another gratuitous oldschool continuity reference into NuWho. Well, if we can have Sarah Jane... (seriously, that moment when Sarah and Davros are reminiscing together about Genesis of the Daleks is, for me, the single greatest moment of the whole of Season Four)*

[merrythemad]

*Yay! A convert! *nods sagely* resistance is futile you will be assimilated! muwhahaha I still insist Donna must be special because she is Donna and special, if she's only special because she is someone else, that's heartbreaking. So, as much as I too would love Romana back, it cannot be through myDonna.*

[clocketpatch]

Cyberfairyliquid???

[merrythemad]

dishsoap. made in England has become the word much like a kleenex is a a tissue or a band aid a bandage.

[clocketpatch]

You learn something new every day (and kudus for the illustration)